Nostalgia Sunday – The Holy Land in Stereo

April 5, 2010 - 12:24 AM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Art, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Nostalgia Sunday, Picture of the Week, Religion, Technology, Travel 

Back before Avatar, kiddies, there was stereoscopy. The technology today seems fairly simple — two separate images printed side-by-side and peered at through the lens of a stereoscope viewer — but the invention was groundbreaking and it was the virtual reality of its day.

The difficult part was providing the public with new and different pictures of faraway places that they could only dream of visiting. Intrepid photographers ventured forth to gather images from such places and, as was to be expected, the Holy Land proved a popular subject.

Take, for example, this glimpse of an “Easter procession of Greek Patriarch, entering the Church of Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem”.

Each Stereoview image came with a descriptive text, such as: “Pilgrims on the Via Dolorosa – the route to Calvary – Jerusalem”.

“Baptising in the Jordan, Palestine”.

These images are gleaned from the World of Stereoviews, an informative website and reasonably priced online shop featuring over 14,000 stereoscopic images dating from the 1850s onwards by well known photographers of the day such as the 1850s views by Francis Frith, B.L. Singley’s Fine Art Photographers’ Publishing Co. and Keystone Views (1890s up until the mid 20th century), the Underwood Company, and M.E. Wright’s Excelsior Publishing (1900s).

“Barley harvest near Bethlehem, Palestine”.

“Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem, from outside”.

The site’s owners, Jenny and Ray Norman note that Wright “was a quirky publisher who either stole or bought images from others… He is known to have produced Middle East views by dressing up his family and taking them in Lancashire – saved the trouble of the journey.” However, these fellows seem to be the real thing!

“Bedouin robbers, wilderness of Judea, near the road to Jericho, Palestine”.

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Pooping out the Pope

May 1, 2009 - 12:14 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: coexistence, General, History and Culture, Religion, Travel 

Pope Benedict XVI welcomes Israeli President Shimon Peres at the pope's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome in 2007.

Pope Benedict XVI welcomes Israeli President Shimon Peres at the pope's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome in 2007.

We’re gearing up here for the arrival of one of the most charismatic guys around – attracting thousands of admirers to every appearance he makes. No, I’m not talking about Leonard Cohen, but Pope Benedict XVI, who arrives here the week after next.

It will mark the first visit of a pope to Israel since Pope John Paul II made a five-day pilgrimage in March, 2000.

I’m not sure who put together Pope Benedict XVI’s schedule, but even doing a quick scan of it left me breathless. It looks like somebody’s trying to poop out this pope, expecially considering he’s in his 70s.

Take a deep breath and imagine you’re in the Popemobile:

Monday, May 11

11:00 Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, Official Welcoming Ceremony
12:05 Arrival at Mount Scopus helipad, Jerusalem. Welcoming Ceremony by Jerusalem Mayor, Nir Barkat.
16:05 Visit to the President’s Residence, joint planting of a tree in the Presidential Garden
17:30 Visit to Yad Vashem, Memorial ceremony at the Remembrance Hall; Wreath laying; Address by the Pope.
19:00 Interfaith Meeting, Notre Dame Hotel

Tuesday, May 12
09:15 Meeting with the Mufti, Temple Mount
10:00 Visit to the Western Wall
10:35 Meeting with the Chief Rabbis, Heichal Shlomo
12:00 Visit to the Church of Dormition – site of the Last Supper
12:30 Visit and Prayer at Latin Patriarch
16:15 Mass at the Garden of Gethsemane

Wednesday May 13
08:00-19:00 Visit to Bethlehem

Thursday May 14
08:30 Travel to Nazareth
09:15 Arrival in Nazareth, Welcoming Ceremony
10:00 Mass at Mount of the Precipice
15:50 Meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Church of the Annunciation
16:30 Meeting with the Faith Heads in Israel, Church of the Annunciation
17:30 Prayer at the Church of the Annunciation
19:00 Return to Jerusalem

Friday May 15
09:15 Meeting at the Greek-Orthodox Patriarch
10:00 Visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
13:30 Leaving Ceremony, Ben Gurion Airport

Whew! Talk about an intense four days. Let’s hope the Pope has some comfortable walking shoes.

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Ho Ho Ho! Christmas in Nazareth

December 24, 2008 - 12:15 PM by · 4 Comments
Filed under: coexistence, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Religion, Travel 

I think it was only appropriate that my first trip to Nazareth be during the holiday season. This year, ISRAEL21c decided to cover Christmas in the Holy Land. Nazareth is known as Jesus’ childhood home and today it has the largest community of Christians in the country. Visiting the city just days before Christmas was the perfect place to see how the holiday is celebrated among Christians in Israel.

Traveling through the main streets of the city (you have plenty of time to look around since there are endless traffic jams), you’ll find tons of Christmas decoration shops, with Christmas trees, lights, Santa Clauses and even a red cowboy Christmas hat. I was actually surprised at how much these shops looked identical to those in America.
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That’s the modern side of things, over in the Old City there are the Christian historical sites and lots of Churches. It was amazing to walk through the churches and learn about Nazareth’s history. A Nazareth resident, who has belonged to his church for over 80 years, told me that he sees thousands of Christian pilgrimages come through Nazareth each year.

From the old city to the new city, we ventured over to a restaurant owned by a Nazareth Christian resident, Mary Abu Jaber, who told us that she never planned on owning a restaurant but wanted to show the Nazareth community the true potential of the city. Her restaurant, “Coincidence,” is featured in the video and was one of the most beautiful restaurants I have been to in Israel. She used an old structure of an abandoned building, to create the main dining area and also built an art gallery. In fact she told us that they’re currently building a book shop to add to the facility. If you are ever in Nazareth I highly recommend checking it out.

My first trip to Nazareth was an awesome experience and I got to capture that feeling in this video. Unfortunately being there before Christmas, I wasn’t able to see their huge parade which is held in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, but then again there is always next year.

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